TriDot Podcast .205

Announcing TriDot Trips: Travel, Train, & Race with Us!

Intro: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses your training data and genetic profile, combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to optimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewer injuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire, and entertain. We’ll talk all things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join the conversation and let’s improve together.

Andrew Harley: It is a special edition of the TriDot podcast. We’ll learn a little bit about triathlon travel, how to have the best experience possible when you travel to a race, but mostly today’s episode is an announcement for a new initiative we here at TriDot are calling TriDot Trips powered by RaceQuest. It’s going to be a great time. I have the founders of RaceQuest joining us for this announce-cast of sorts. RaceQuest specializes in endurance sports race entry tours, training camps, and active travel. Whether you are a beginner, a competitive age-grouper, or a professional athlete, they invite you to train, race, and travel the world with them. RaceQuest is now the official travel partner and event producer of TriDot training; more on that in just a little bit, and today we have the CEO and founder Krista Baker as well as the CMO and founder Kelli Eldridge joining me to talk about the future of TriDot trips. So Krista, Kelli, welcome to the TriDot podcast.

Krista Baker: Happy to be here Andrew.

Kelli Eldridge: It’s a pleasure. Thank you.

Andrew: I am Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People and Captain of the Middle of the Pack. As always we'll roll through our warm up question, settle in for our main set conversation, and then wind things down with our cool down.

UCAN: Before we get too deep into the show today, I want to give a shout out to our good friends at UCAN. Here at TriDot we are huge believers in using UCAN to fuel our training and racing. In the crowded field of nutrition companies, what separates UCAN from the pack is the science behind LIVSTEADY, the key ingredient in UCAN products. While most energy powders are filled with sugar or stimulants that cause a spike and crash, UCAN energy powders, powered by LIVSTEADY, deliver a steady release of complex carbs to give you stable blood sugar and provide long lasting energy. I personally fuel my workouts with the orange flavored Edge Gel and the unflavored UCAN Energy Powder. Between their Energy Mix, Energy Bars, Almond Butter, and more, there is definitely a LIVSTEADY product that you will love. So head to their website, UCAN.co and use the code TRIDOT to save 20% on your entire order. Now that code used to be 10%, but the fine folks at UCAN have upped it to 20% for TriDot Nation. So once again, that’s UCAN.co, promo code TRIDOT.

Warm up theme: Time to warm up! Let’s get moving.

Andrew: Traveling to a new location can be a silky smooth experience or it can have a bit of turbulence along the way, pun fully intended. For our warm up question today I am dipping into the travel related conversation a little bit early to ask you both this adventure-ready question. From all of your travels, of which you both have had plenty, what is the biggest travel snafu you have had to troubleshoot? Kelli, we’ll start with you here on this one.

Kelli: Gee.

Krista: Oh gosh.

Kelli: Well, how much time do you have?

Andrew: We have one hour. We have one hour, Kelli.

Kelli: There have been many. Many that we can document. Thankfully most of them were done in our pre-tour scouting moments.

Andrew: Great.

Kelli: It’s only failure, Andrew, if you don’t learn from it.

Andrew: That’s the spirit.

Kelli: Every nugget we’re going to give you today is born from personal experience. I would have to say probably the #1 that just comes to mind is that– we actually named it. We call it the Galway Nutribullet Incident. We were kicking off our summer European travel with a trip to Challenge Galway which was just amazing. An epic place. Epic event. And Krista had this really great idea that we would take these 80 pound Nutribullets and 50 pounds of supplementation and that we would enjoy fresh juicing and smoothies every day.

Andrew: Yeah sure. Yeah tasty.

Kelli: When you’re up for a couple of months, let’s stay healthy and drink our juices. We rented this beautiful Airbnb cottage. Just get the setting here. It’s Galway. It’s Ireland.

Andrew: Yeah.

Kelli: It’s a majestic coast and we’ve got our cute little cottage there. We’re all prepped to receive our guests and Krista says “Well, I think it’s time. It’s time for a smoothie.”

Krista: It’s time to get healthy.

Kelli: It’s time to get healthy. Let’s get it. So Krista, you remember. You did it.

Krista: Oh absolutely. Absolutely. So here I am with my 50 pound bag of supplementations and I’m pouring all of this into the Nutribullet, plug it into the wall, so excited, push go. All of a sudden the biggest, loudest noise in the entire–

Andrew: Yeah.

Krista: It goes blank and dark and yes, I failed to check the voltage on the Nutribullet and we took the power out of that whole house plus probably the whole street.

Kelli: I think the whole block, probably the whole street. Yeah I mean–

Andrew: All because you wanted a smoothie.

Kelli: Yeah. Yeah. We blew it out.

Krista: The funny part about this is we carried those darn smoothies; that Nutribullet has been more places than the average human being because it went all over Europe plus Iceland with us because I thought I could salvage it when we got back home, and no we couldn’t.

Kelli: Absolutely. I mean that was memorable. I think– I can’t answer this question though and not mention usually our snafus involve sketchy water crossings.

Andrew: Oh sure. Yeah. Sure. Why not?

Kelli: We have another chapter in our book that we really need to write and we would call that that one the “Say Anything Moment.” So we rented this van in Costa Rica and we were staying at this little, inexpensive motel and Krista was driving us out in the van. They had these giant concrete curbs and the rear bumper of this big van clipped that curb and it was hanging by a thread. So we just did a little quick Duck Tape magic and…

Andrew: Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Sure.

Kelli: …it was great until we hit the water crossing and then it completely became separated from the vehicle and we had one of our team, one of our crew, jumped out and went behind the van and we could see in the rearview mirror he’s holding the bumper up over his head like the John Cusack in “Say Anything.” You know, it’s like “in your eyes.” So we took the van back to the rental company and they said, “Oh my gosh. Oh do you want a new van? Would you like a new replacement?” and we were like, “No, you can just keep this bumper. It makes us more aerodynamic.”

Andrew: We’re fine. We just lost a little weight. A little more gas efficient. No worries.

Kelli: We just lost our bumper. No problem. We’re picking up clients with no bumper.

Krista: Exactly. Travel tip #1, always get full coverage on your cars. Right there, first travel tip.

Andrew: Yeah. I historically don’t do that, but I’m also historically not crossing any water crossings that I’m aware of.

Krista: Smart.

Andrew: Good to note. Back in college I was in Belize with some friends and we were pretty close to the Guatemalan border. So while we were so close to Guatemala, it was like, hey let’s get another country in on this trip. We went through the little customs checkpoint to walk into Guatemala. We were going to just do some shopping, have lunch in a little Guatemalan village right over the border from Belize. So you go through the security checkpoint to check your bags and they look at your passport and so it felt like they were like admitting you into the country of Guatemala. What we didn’t realize was there was after you go through the security checkpoint, you walk about 100 yards and there’s a building to the left where you’re supposed to go actually have your passport stamped that you are coming into the country. But there was no stanchion leading you that way. There was no one pointing you that way. There was no English sign encouraging you to go that way. So we go, we think we’re in Guatemala officially. So we have lunch, we do some shopping, we walk around. So when we go to exit the country, they open up our passports and they were like, “Um, you guys never officially checked into Guatemala so we can’t process you out since you didn’t process yourself in.” and it became a whole thing. Luckily one guy in our group did speak Spanish. So he was able to negotiate a US dollar, cash exchange to have them look the other way while they let us back into Belize. But for a hot minute there I was convinced I was spending the night in a Guatemalan jail for not properly entering. I’m sure that’s not what would have happened, but in my head as a naive college kid, that’s what was about to happen. So, that’s this answer for me. We’re going to throw this question out to our audience like we always do. Make sure that you’re a part of the I AM TriDot Facebook group where every Monday when the new episode of the podcast comes out we pose the warmup question to you. I know we have some adventure seekers and some travelers in the group so I’m excited to see what is the biggest travel snafu you have ever encountered?

Main set theme: On to the main set. Going in 3…2…1…

Andrew: In my time podcasting for TriDot I have been relentless in voicing my love for traveling for triathlons. It is just simply the best way to see the world; I have no doubt about that. So I am just elated to talk about triathlon travel particularly how RaceQuest will empower the TriDot community to experience the world together through triathlon. So Kelli, Krista, before we prepare our people to travel with TriDot through RaceQuest, take us back to your personal experience as triathletes. Before you helped triathletes fly all over the world for races you two were both triathletes yourselves. So, specifically I’m curious, within your own triathlon journey, what role did travel play in your time as a triathlete? Krista, let’s start with you.

Krista: Absolutely. Well, my first foray into triathlon was a small, little race which I had no idea– this was my inexperience with triathlon– I ran into T1, sprinted into T1 from the swim and just completely stopped and started doing yoga and at the time my friend on the sideline…

Andrew: Yeah, just needed a break.

Krista: …was like “What are you doing Krista?” after about five minutes and I looked straight at him and I said, “What are you talking about? I’m in transition. It doesn’t count.” And he said “Yes it does!”

Andrew: You were on the clock.

Krista: In transition I literally thought it didn’t count. So yes, from that point forward I realized I need to take this a little more seriously. That was an out of state race so, yes, a little money was spent going to that race and I realized that yes, I needed to probably manage– to know the sport a little bit better. So then, again, I was introduced after that event to Charlie Patten and Eric Opdyke from Revolution 3 Triathlon. I had a travel background managing groups for corporate businesses and they thought well, Krista we need a pro liaison and need also someone to help with our hospitality and staff. That’s when I really got into the triathlon scene and obviously just took my travel and coordination skills and logistic skills to use with them and absolutely loved it. Met all the pro triathletes, fell in love with the sport and with them as well. So that’s kind of my intro to travel and triathlon.

Andrew: No. Very cool. It’s always nice to– and I love asking when someone comes onto the show for the first time because very often our normal roster of guests are TriDot coaches who come on regularly so our audience kind of knows who they are, knows their story. So when we have new folks come on I like getting kind of that first impression. That, when you got into the sport, what was it like for you? Because we get good stories like that where I’m sure there’s some people out there nodding their heads because they too probably didn’t realize they were on the clock in T1 that very first race. And look at you now. Now you coordinate races all over the world for triathletes and most importantly you know that time on the clock in transition matters. Kelli, what was your kind of intro into triathlon and what role did travel play in your journey?

Kelli: Well, my first sprint was completely uncoached and unguided and probably maybe that makes it ill advised. I don’t know. But I did my first sprint at the Gulf Coast. It was a Team Magic Race. It was fantastic and I did probably everything incorrectly. I had borrowed a friend’s hybrid bike. I had a Dasani water bottle that was taped to my handle bars, my drink with a straw. I just really did it very basic.

Andrew: Yeah.

Kelli: But when I finished, I had found my people. Like, it was wonderful. They were so welcoming and it just didn’t matter whether you were first or at the end or whatever. It was just fantastic. It was such a celebration and from there I worked my way up through the distances and along the way I had done Ironman Agusta 70.3 and this was in 2012. And my good friend, and at the time my coach, she was a pro athlete. She had qualified for Kona for the Ironman World Championship and she called me up one day and said you know, “Could you come and help me in Kona for a little over a week?” Because her husband was an Army officer. He was on deployment at the time and she said, “You know, I really could just use your Sherpa, helping hand, good energy…

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kelli: “...would you be willing to do that?” And I said, “Ohh, I don’t know. That’s a tough ask. I’m going to have to get back with you on that.”

Andrew: To go to Hawaii. Oh my goodness.

Kelli: Absolutely! Completely 1000% yes. So I landed, she immediately drove me to Alii Drive. I started crying, it was emotional, it was a moment, and she was like “Oh, I’m so glad you’re helping me feel that spirit again about my own

race.”

Andrew: Yeah.

Kelli: So we were out there and she needed to go do a training ride. So we went out on the Queen K Highway way out toward Hawi where there’s nothing but hot lava and she said, “You know, you should do this as a business. Like, you should be a professional race sherpa. You’re so good at it and you’re just calming. You’ve got all the planning handled. It’s great; takes stress of off me.” So she said, “There’s somebody you need to meet that would be perfect that is just like you and you guys should just get together and do this.” And we’re in the middle of nowhere, remember, it’s just us.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I’ve driven out there and it is indeed in the middle of nowhere.

Kelli: Yeah. And we see in the 100 degree heat, we see this vision, this mirage coming towards us with a visor and a water bottle and it’s Krista. And she says, “I don’t believe it. That’s the person I was telling you about.” And she said, “Krista, Kelli. Kelli, Krista. Discuss.” And she went off to do her ride and an hour later when she came back we had formed the company. We had just sketched it out right there on the Queen K Highway. So that was October of 2012 and we came back to the mainland. We got everything together. We launched January of 2013 and I would dare say that was what I call a divine appointment, Andrew.

Andrew: Yeah. Sure.

Kelli: I mean, that just changed both of our lives for the better. We’ve had amazing adventures and met awesome people and it’s just been an incredible journey. So I would say that’s probably the beginnings of my association with it. I’d always been a fan. I’d always watch it on TV, but there’s just nothing like, you know, trying it and having a good time and really enjoying yourself with it.

Andrew: Yeah and I love that you just happened to meet out on– not only in Kona because I mean there’s so many triathletes world wide and only a very small percentage of them are in Kona for the World Championships every single year. So for the two of you to be there the same year, same time and just to happen to meet–

Kelli: Same day, same hour.

Andrew: Yeah. Same day all the way out on the Queen K all the way to Hawi. That is a little bit of a hike out there and that’s where you two ended up meeting and you started talking about RaceQuest and from those initial discussions and when you launched the company back in 2013, has anything changed in the business model or has it stayed pretty true to your kind of original intentions way back then?

Krista: I think the core of what we do has stayed the same.

Andrew: Okay.

Krista: I mean, we’ve always called ourselves professional sherpas, the Marthas, the caretakers. That core of what we do has stayed the same, but we are changing in the sense that we are getting bigger.

Andrew: That’s great.

Krista: Yeah and it’s a very exciting development that’s coming into the future and we are expanding and growing. The catalog of races that we are offering now is going to be doubling. So yeah. I think, but again going back to the root of what we do is we love our athletes, we love the business, and that’s always going to remain the same.

Kelli: I would add that as far as the core of what we do, we’re not really a sports business, we’re not a travel business. We’re the human connection business.

Andrew: Cool.

Kelli: I think people come for the races and they come for the camps and experiences, but they stay for the people and it’s the community and the sense of being among like-minded people and meeting new people and making new friends, making new memories. So that really feels like the core of what we do is bringing people together which is such a positive and affirming– I mean the fact that I get to get up every day and that I get to do that and that’s my job, it’s just phenomenal. So what a blessing.

Krista: Kelli, what’s that Maya Angelou quote that you always use?

Kelli: I love it. It’s what we try to keep in the center of our minds when we’re creating all these things is that people will… Maya Angelou said that people, they may– they’re going to forget. They may forget what you say, but they will never forget the way that you make them feel.

Andrew: No sure. Yeah.

Kelli: It’s super important to us that when you go on a trip with us that you come away from there feeling like it was one of the best events that you’ve ever done. One of the best experiences, one of the best investments of your life.

Andrew: So I want to get into the TriDot and RaceQuest partnership because we both just have a shared passion for taking care of athletes, for getting triathletes together to swim, bike, and run, and for exploring the world through triathlon and those shared values and some mutual connections that put us in touch have led us to working together into 2024 and beyond. So we are calling this TriDot Trips Powered by RaceQuest. Basically for us here at TriDot we love getting our athletes together, but we recognize that as a staff we have a limited capacity and frankly limited experience in planning and executing cool trips for our people. We can certainly do it and we’ve certainly done it. It’s not our core competency as a brand, but at RaceQuest that is your jam. That is what you do. So we are excited to bring TriDot Nation more events and better produced events than ever before by letting your team at RaceQuest empower our events and our people. Our staff, will just be there to enjoy. So this is how we see this playing out and I’m going to kind of take a moment to cast a vision and let the two of you expound on this. But I want our core listeners, our core audience, just to kind of hear from our brand kind of the heart of what we want to do here.

We kind of see this as three different types of trips that our people can partake in moving forward. Trip type #1 would be going to the races with TriDot and RaceQuest, aka the race experience alongside a whole bunch of your TriDot friends. You are going to a place like Challenge Roth and there will be a whole boat load of TriDotters there. We’ll all be doing the race together. You are racing on this type of trip. #2, TriDot training camps. Probably 60 to 70 to 80 athletes at a time in a very cool, but also a very practical and affordable location just training, learning, and hanging out together. This is kind of the type of trip we’ve historically done here at TriDot. We’ve done Ambassador Camps in Austin, Texas in St. George, Utah; all sorts of places. So this would be just kind of more of that. Then #3, I kind of consider this our TriDot boutique kind of premium experience camps where you are experiencing a really cool destination with a little bit more of a price tag because of it being a cool destination. Probably some fewer athletes, maybe 20, 30, 40, 50 athletes at a time. Still a good sized group and these honestly are the kinds of trips that I’m excited about, because I personally, I’m kind of posh as a traveler. I’m a little bougie with premium economy on my plane flights and stuff like that, but these would be going to Kona and getting to swim in the bay, getting to see that experience. Going to really, really cool triathlon destination places and just getting to experience swimming, biking, and running in that place with some other TriDotters. So more or less that is the vision as clearly and concisely as I can pitch it for our people. Kelli, Krista, what did I miss? What do you want our athletes to know about these experiences that we’re working on together already?

Krista: I’m just going to chime in real quick. You said “bougie,” you said “posh traveler.”

Andrew: Yeah.

Krista: Andrew, I travel with a separate carry on check in bag for my race products and my supplements.

Andrew: Yeah!

Krista: So posh, bougie right here.

Kelli: I can vouch for that. I can verify that. Yeah. So I would say I think the best way to describe the trips is that you’re going to get to see, no matter which type of trip, you’re going to get to see the world through triathlon. You’re going to meet great people. You and your family and friends, you’re going to be well looked after always. It’s our passion to take care of you and I think we’re just driven to deliver as much excellence as we can for every client regardless of athlete or spectator. Yeah, right off the top that’s what you can expect for sure.

Krista: Yeah and I’d say after ten years, we’ve had thousands of clients and created hundreds of experiences, camps, race day experiences internationally. So we’re forming a partnership and you’re exactly right, we know what we’re doing and we’ve done it and we have a ton of happy clients and we call them family members who are now part of our community.

Kelli: Yeah, you come in as a client and you leave as a friend. So we’re so excited and just very honored to work with the TriDot community and become part of the TriDot family.

Andrew: Yeah, so at TriDot we don’t partner with somebody lightly. We like finding the best possible people to take care of our athletes and that’s what we know we have in working with RaceQuest. You’re both very well versed in taking athletes to the races. So just tell our people, when an athlete goes to a race through RaceQuest, what does that experience look like? What all do you take care of for the athlete when they go to a Roth or a Nice or a Kona or whatever through RaceQuest?

Krista: Kelli, I’m going to chime in real quick. My passion stems back to the Rev3 days, but has always been not just for the athlete, but also for the families. I’ve always wanted to make sure that the family is taken care of because that’s a big part of the athlete experience as well. If you’re family is not having a good time, you’re probably not going to have a good race. So to that point, we always make sure that– what do we call them?

Kelli: Spectathlete.

Krista: She calls them spectathletes. I can’t ever say that word, but they are well taken care of. They are having a good time so therefore the athlete, that whole worry and concern is off their shoulders when they toe the line on that race day. So Kelli, you can go in and talk about the athlete now.

Kelli: Well, I would say Andrew, hold my beer on this one as far as what we do for people.

Andrew: Yeah. Yep. Go for it. Dive into it. Get deep. Yeah, tell us.

Kelli: Let’s see. Well, let’s start with for the athlete, let’s take Challenge Roth for example. First of all, we can get you into the race. The race sells out in like 40 seconds every year.

Andrew: Every year. Every year, yep.

Kelli: It’s unbelievable. I mean, just poof they’re gone. But we are able to get you guaranteed access to purchase that golden ticket. It’s literally like Willy Wonka and the Golden Ticket. So that’s obviously a real plus is we can get you in. Then I would say, next we do provide all of the services that you would expect on a world class tour; the airport transfers, the race course recon, very detailed strategy, a beautiful hotel, accommodations, race week transportation. You don’t have to rent a car. We bring our own bike mechanics from the US. We provide a VIP race day experience for yourself and your spectathletes and like a tented special area at the swim start right on the bank of the canal where you can see your swimmers. Throughout the race day it’s just a phenomenal day. You know, that course is logistically complex. You have transition one and two are about six miles apart and the roads are closed. So for the people that are on the Challenge Roth tour, we are able to take you, get you places where other people can’t go. Our buses have special permissions and we get to take you all over the course. So it’s really a fantastic day I would say. Then, even deeper we– Well, I mean we glove up. Let’s face it. We’re going to glove up and pull your bike and your bags out of T2 which it’s a fairly biohazardous situation I would say.

Andrew: It absolutely is. Yeah, if no one has had to do that, your bike is pretty wrecked. It’s never dirtier.

Krista: It can get a little sticky. So we gather those items and we transport those back to your hotel and deliver them for you so that when you finish that amazing race, you get to enjoy the celebration. You don’t have to shlep over to T2 and try to put your body and your bike back together and figure out what to do. So we handle all of that. I would say also that I’ve had many athletes that if they couldn’t make it back to the motor coach, they’ve leaned on me and I’ve walked people back and forth and I’ve held their hair so to speak when they have to be ill. I mean, we stay with everyone. It’s great I think also for single travelers because if you’re going to go to a big race like that you want somebody to be your people or help you.

Andrew: Yeah, it’s such a huge boost in so many ways.

Krista: Right? It gives you confidence going into the race knowing that should you have any sort of issue or whatever, you’ve got people that are tracking you and people that are going to look after you and will go to medical tent with you or take care of all of your belongings. I just think that is such a great plus when you are wanting to see more of the world and we can do those things for you. So it really comes down to just making sure that all of our team members go above and beyond. Their heart and soul is in it and you definitely will feel that and you’re going to be so well looked after. That’s really what it’s all about.

Andrew: So in terms of the athlete booking it literally is you get your plane ticket to wherever your race destination is, Challenge Roth being again the prime example because you guys do that one every single year. You get your plane ticket there and then everything else is taken care of by RaceQuest. So you’re free to just sit back and enjoy, take the pressure off of the actual travel logistics and just get yourself ready for race day, enjoy the experience, enjoy the location with your new triathlete friends that you’re meeting that are on the same tour as you. Roth, Germany that is one of the biggest trips you guys do every single year and you certainly know how to service more races than just Challenge Roth, but I know that one is near and dear to your heart. What is the special relationship between Challenge Roth and RaceQuest?

Krista: I met Felix who is the CEO of Roth back in my Rev3 days and that very first encounter you can feel, it’s palpable, his passion for the sport and his desire to make his particular race just the best in the world. He’s got this infectious personality, this infectious smile, and he’s always been such a champion for triathlon the sport itself. For me, we’ve always had this direct connection with him. He’s been so gracious and generous with RaceQuest even in the sense that he’s come and joined us for beers post race with just our group of people.

Andrew: So they’re buddies. Yeah.

Krista: Yeah, we’ve gone to the Hofbrau. He’s joined us at the Hofbrau. He’s started up these wonderful rallies and singing inside the Hofbrau with our folks. So, we have such a strong connection with him just because of who he is and his love for the sport and obviously that’s reflected in Roth in and of itself the event.

Kelli: And I would add that he’s really championed us because he has seen our passion and our heart for not only our clients, but for the people and the people there that make it all happen at Roth. I think that he’s just one of the most generous human beings you’ll ever meet. So very, very special person.

Andrew: So for TriDot specifically, for listeners who are listening and there will be– this podcast drops on a Monday and I know that the week this podcast is dropping some emails are going out, some social media posts are going out with some more detail on what it looks like to be a TriDot athlete going to Challenge Roth in 2024, but for the sake of this podcast, for the TriDotters who maybe Roth has been on their radar and they’ve always wanted to go and have just never pulled the trigger, maybe they’ve tried getting in and haven’t been able to. But whatever the case is, if someone is listening to this and they’re like, “Oh, TriDot is going to Roth in 2024 with a bunch of people.” What is that experience going to look like? What is going to be special and unique for the TriDot audience specifically?

Kelli: Well, I would say first of all, whether you have an entry already and you were lucky enough to get one through the lottery, which is like amazing.

Andrew: And we do have some of those. Yeah.

Kelli: If you have some of those people, whether you have an entry or you need an entry you are welcome on the tour. It’s full service. It is wheels up, wheels down we’ve got you covered. From the moment you land in Munich Airport we’re going to have our teams there, greeters, our motor coaches, our trucks to handle your bike, your luggage, and all those things. We get you to the TriDot host hotel which would be Neuenburg. It’s about 25 minutes away. Beautiful setting, walk to the beautiful swimming pools. There’s an eight lane Olympic pool and then there’s another pool that’s an indoor, so close by.

Andrew: Ohh, how fancy. Neuenburg.

Krista: I mean there’s sight seeing like five minutes away. You could walk out the door. It actually backs up to a beautiful green park with like a pond and pedal boats and paths dedicated for running and for biking. It’s amazing that they have this extensive network over there. The parks system is just beautiful and we’re in such a great setting, but yet you’re only five minutes into Old Town Neuenburg for sightseeing, dining, shopping, world class place. Then it’s just a quick way over there to Roth and we handle all of your race week transportation. That’s something people are sometimes nervous about traveling internationally or racing is what do I do about driving. It’s on the autobahn. Oh my gosh. What do we do. So we have professional German drivers that drive us everywhere and it’s in these nice air conditioned motor coaches and we pull up— Especially we do the bike course and swim course orientation where we will stop along the way and point out very important strategic parts of that race course. Then we will get you fully prepared with team briefing, race rules, all of that. We take you everywhere you need to be for bike check in. We take that over there for you and you walk it in. We just make it as easy as possible. Daily breakfast of course at the hotel. We have a welcome party planned which is always a bit hit and you never know what pros are going to drop by. We always have some friends that come and want to hang out in Old Town Neuenburg and want to meet our people. So that’s always a fun time as well. Then I would have to say it caps off with our race day which is just being on that tour this many number of years, I can’t tell you how many people have come up to me and said “How do I get on that bus?”

Kelli: Exactly.

Krista: Like, that’s where I want to be.

Andrew: Well, you book your trip and you book all your travel through RaceQuest next time around. Don’t do it on your own.

Krista: That’s right. Yeah. It’s completely comprehensive in nature. It’s a very thorough trip. So no matter, whether you need an entry or you’ve already got one, we welcome you. When you go to our website at Race-Quest.com you’re going to see a tab up there that says TriDot Trips and you can click that. It’s going to take you right to your special webpage, private to TriDot. You’ll be typing in a special code to get in. So that will be the way that we work that for you in terms of your booking and you’ll book through us. It’s all handled very seamlessly.

Andrew: Yep and we’re going to include some special TriDot swag for our TriDot athletes that do Challenge Roth in 2024 and most importantly to your point, we’ll all be together. We’ll all be in the same hotel in Neuenburg. We’ll be on the same buses going all around Germany for a solid week. So it’s literally going and doing, in many people’s opinion, the best triathlon experience race in the world with a bunch of your TriDot friends. I love that you kind of tease, you always have some pros come by depending on who’s in town. You have a lot of connections with the professional field. We also, on the TriDot side of things, have several kind of Ironman celebrity coaches so to speak, kind of on the TriDot coaching roster. So when you do a TriDot Trip through RaceQuest, you never know what pros and what celebrity coaches might be in attendance on deck coaching you that week and we do at this very moment– I’ll kind of tease this part of it– We have four TriDot Trips on the calendar fully green lit, all systems go, that are being planned for 2024. Our longtime TriDot ambassadors, they’ll know that historically we do one TriDot Trip every year and it’s our ambassador camp. So I just think it’s awesome that we’re expanding that to four. If we see the demand, if you guys listening sign up for these things then we’ll expand that into 2025 and beyond. We’ll kind of grow it as the demand is there for trips and experiences. Now on this podcast episode, we are only officially announcing Challenge Roth which is kind of why we’re talking about it a little bit extra. So Challenge Roth in 2024, you can sign up through RaceQuest and go race it with TriDot next year. The other three events that we have officially locked in, I will tease they are not races. Challenge Roth is the only TriDot race happening next year through RaceQuest. Our other three events are more camp-like events. So Kelli, Krista, what does a camp produced by RaceQuest look like?

Krista: Not to give too much away…

Andrew: Sure, yeah. Sure.

Krista: …yep I can say expect beautiful, spectacular locations. Warm, Kona-like swimming waters; let me just “Kona-like” swimming waters. White glove service. Comprehensive training program. We’re going to work directly with all the coaches in TriDot to make sure that you’ve got the education, the instruction there to really get through and help perfect your form. But I always say that there’s not a single athlete who has been to our camp experience who has left not a better athlete. Everyone who comes in always comes out with knowledge, education, obviously they are physically exhausted, but that’s a good thing.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah.

Krista: And they are well nutritioned. We’ve got plenty of great nutrition and food involved with that as well.

Kelli: Well, I’ll also say that one of our, let’s just say one of our previous camp experiences we had the great fortune to work with local farm-to-table chefs. I mean, from top to bottom it’s going to be next level. That’s what we can promise and I guarantee that you will leave inspired, you’ll be a better athlete, you will have a game plan, you will have made a lot of great new friends, and you will have been able to see something; an amazing location or maybe travel a place that you’ve never considered before. So good things in store.

Andrew: Yeah, and for TriDot, our part, we’re going to make sure that there are a couple TriDot staff members at each of these experiences on these trips. Some will be coaches that are there to coach you for the week. Some will just be personalities that are there to connect with you for the week, but we’ll always make sure it is well staffed and a very cool experience all the way around. Another really cool thing that RaceQuest does for athletes is Bespoke kind of one-on-one trips. We have a longtime TriDot ambassador who has used you to plan all of his travel for multiple international races. There are two fairly famous TriDot coaches who had you coordinate all the travel for their honeymoon. I’m not going to say any names there unless you feel led to. So for any of our athletes listening who are thinking about going big with a racecation of some kind, how can they best connect with your team if they want a little extra help?

Kelli: Well, I think as far as just booking the race, travel or something that you want to go on a trip, obviously reach out to us and you’re going to include links in the description of how to get to us. But as far as Bespoke Travel that’s something that really came about a few years ago out of popular demand.

Andrew: Wow.

Kelli: The clients may be racing somewhere where we don’t offer a full tour and they want us to scout out the best place to stay, where’s the local bike shop, what are the dining options, what would the itinerary be? So it became kind of a custom program there which we can work with you. Maybe you want to just go on vacation with the family, but you want to go to a place that can accommodate your training so that you’re not missing out on that. It could be just extremely in depth as far as the plan that we put together. Thankfully over the past ten years we’ve developed a pretty large network of locations, on the ground knowledge, experts that help us to create whatever type of trip that you might need. I would also say that we offer post race tours as extensions that are small group in nature and frankly those will just blow you away. We’ve got a trip to Prague and Munich that we do after Challenge Roth if you want to tack that on.

Andrew: Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah. While you’re over there–

Kelli: Yeah, like while you’re racing, you might– Well the good thing about that is I think that you’ve got to remember that your family and friends who have listened to you talk about your race for a year, you know, it’s kind of nice to reward them with some post race travel.

Andrew:  I could not agree more.

Kelli: It’s like a nice reward. But, yeah. We can customize quite a bit for you. Happy to do so.

Krista: Kelli, I’m going to chime in on this one. Kelli created a Bespoke tour this year and the spectathlete’s– let’s just say that again– were pickleball players. So she set up a whole kind of pickleball tour after post race for the family members so that they could have their own fun experience after watching their loved one cross that line in Roth. So yeah, we are very customized; customizable.

Andrew: Yeah, and I love what you’re saying. Like for my wife and I. I don’t think in our calls together I’ve said this before, but for my wife and I in our marriage, at the time we’re recording this podcast we’ve been married for eight years. We just had our first baby girl. So for the first eight years, just the two of us, no kids, like how we vacationed, how we traveled the world was through triathlon. I would show her a short list of half Ironman races I was interested in doing and she would pick which one we were going to go to based on which country she was the most interested in visiting. So that’s where we’ve done 70.3 New Zealand, we’ve done 70.3 Greece, and so yeah. We are trying to build two week long vacations in a really cool country based around a long weekend at the races. When we did New Zealand, that one was a little more straightforward. So I felt pretty confident in planning everything, figuring out logistically, getting into Auckland, sightseeing a couple things, getting down to Topau. For Greece, we wanted to island hop a little bit and so that logistically became a little bit more involved. So I actually did elicit the help of a Greek travel agency that helped me with that particular one. So yeah, to have a triathlon knowledgeable agency that you can work with to help you just plan, troubleshoot all those kinds of things would be super great. And just an example, going through my Greek travel agency that was not triathlon knowledgeable, I told them in advance, “Hey, I am flying with this massive bike travel case.” In all their literature it said we will get you a taxi from the airport to the hotel in Athens, da, da, da, da. So it was like, “Hey, I have this massive thing.” They asked me for the size dimensions and I sent it to them. So they guaranteed me over email, okay, we see how big it is, we have the dimensions, we’ll make sure there’s a big enough car to get you there. And sure enough we arrived in Athens. Our car comes up and it’s just a typical, run of the mill taxi and I’m looking at the guy, the guy’s looking at me, he’s looking at the bike and we all know there’s no way this is all fitting in there. You guys know how to troubleshoot those kind of scenarios. From all the athletes you’ve worked with and all the trips and experiences you’ve helped coordinate, what is maybe the most difficult or the most challenging circumstance you’ve tried to help an athlete troubleshoot in their travel logistics?

Krista: It always goes down to the bike. It always comes down to that darn bike. I’m telling you.

Andrew: Of course it does.

Kelli: It’s always about the bike. A Scicon case is never going to wedge into a Fiat. It’s just not going to happen.

Andrew: Yeah.

Kelli: Well, we had a client who had done Challenge Roth with us and really enjoyed it. Then he signed up for Ironman Alaska so that was a pretty tricky one to figure out.

Andrew: Oh yeah. I bet.

Kelli: We did that for him and his wife as a Bespoke trip and I spent, you know, a good bit of time researching and one of the things that I was able to come up with– well, giving some tips away here, but I looked at the swim start area and I started digging down into real estate and I ended up contacting some people that owned a home that would be perfect for them and we emailed and got some discussion going and they were even amenable to renting them their Jeep.

Andrew: Wow.

Kelli: They were going to rent the house for the race and rent the Jeep too. So just knowing. Just knowing where they needed to be and what their price point was going to be, what their needs, list of wants and you just go down the list. Then I had a back up plan for them if that didn’t work out. So it all comes down to– Just really we’ve learned a lot from our snafus. We really have.

Krista: Yeah, and I was going to say real quick too, a lot of– You know, we always say the bike, but also customs is a whole different ballgame.

Andrew: Oh sure. Make sure you properly go through customs people.

Krista: Yeah, well, but also whenever you’re mailing the bike back or you’re sending things through customs, what is allowable in the bag itself because we’ve had several bags being held up in customs for a wetsuit for example.

Andrew: Oh wow.

Krista: You can’t have anything wet in your bag. So it’s little tips like this we are very much– I mean, we’ve learned again through experience, but we are able to kind of pass that on to the athlete knowing from ten years of doing this.

Kelli: Yeah, they may come to us with their plan and we may take a look at it and go, “Ooo, how are you going to get from A to B with this equipment here?” You know, we can help them troubleshoot that and give them some alternatives and really we’ve gotten really adapt to identifying these little jewels; these special boutique places to stay, these great locations, hotels that are very athlete centric, even down to dining. They might have special dietary needs and we can scout out the restaurants for them. I mean, we really give them a comprehensive guide so that when they travel everything is just exactly the way that it needs to be. So really, it’s all about the details.

Andrew: Yeah, so we’ll definitely tell all our athletes, and I am telling our athletes right now, you can have RaceQuest help you. One, you can go to the races with TriDot through RaceQuest like Challenge Roth, you can go to our camps that will be on the TriDot trips page, or you can reach out and have them plan just your own personal trip for a triathlon race wherever you are going. But there are, Krista and Kelli, athletes that they’re used to doing the travel themselves, they just want to do the travel themselves, they’re going to plan it themselves even though we’re saying hey RaceQuest is great, go ask them. So for those people who are just going to do it themselves, they want to do it themselves, they’re used to doing it themselves, what are your top kind of travel tips in terms of planning and executing a race trip? The tips you can give to our people who just want to do it themselves.

Kelli: I’m going to start off with this one because I’ve always preached this mantra 20 years, 30 years now. When you travel you need to always have three things top of mind no matter what. You need to have access to communication be it your phone, access to money however that is, and your ID. As long as you’ve got those three things– You know, you’re packing and you’re like, “I’m forgetting something. I’m forgetting something. I don’t know what it is.” Make sure you have those three things because as long as you have that you’re going to be fine because you can buy whatever you forgot.

Andrew: That’s great. Yeah, that’s really great.

Krista: I would add that, especially for international trips, in the era that we are in, I can’t stress enough the need for some type of travel or medical travel insurance policy that would cover you and help mitigate any possible financial loss should something happen that would keep you from traveling to that event. I mean, this is the worst case scenario and we need to talk about it. I would say that out of 100 athletes, we usually have two or three that end up in this circumstance…

Andrew: Wow.

Krista: …where it’s so late that it’s impossible to call back any type of refund and it’s just, it’s really tough. So I would say, we have very excellent resources for you on that, recommendations, but whatever you’re going to do internationally especially, you want some type of coverage so that should something happen you don’t have to stress about that because it is an investment. It is an investment not only of your time and your training, but your money too.

Andrew: Yep, no it absolutely is and I love that you’re bringing that up because it’s– when you’re planning a trip yourself the fun things to plan is where you’re going to stay, where you’re going to eat, what you’re going to see, what you’re going to do. No one likes to wrap their head around the financials and the insurance side of things and from, I know partially talking about like trip insurance, the financials, but as triathletes even on the medical side. My wife, when we were racing New Zealand and Greece, she was like– especially Greece where not everybody speaks English– she was like, “You need to be careful on that race course because nothing can happen. If something happens to you I cannot deal with getting you in and out of a Greek hospital. So make sure that you’re safe out there.” It’s like, okay, yeah. Great point. Absolutely. So yeah, just thinking through those things, Kelli, it’s just really, really good information.

Kelli: And I’m just thinking about even Krista, the first trip that we ever did was Ironman Lake Tahoe. Now, there’s a throwback. Wow.

Andrew: Yeah, heard stories about that one.

Kelli: But Krista was training and, well, you tell the listeners.

Andrew: It snowed, Krista? Was that the snow race or something like that?

Krista: Exactly. Yes.

Kelli: That’s where the bike seats were frozen. Yeah it was great.

Krista: Exactly. Exactly. Well and there were pictures I believe on our Facebook, but I was in a head on collision on my bike with another cyclist…

Andrew: Oh wow.

Krista: …and it fractured my neck in several areas. But yes, the importance of insurance, 100% make sure that– Our hearts break when this happens to our clients because you know, without insurance, there’s no recourse for us because our money is typically paid in advance six months ahead of time. So, yeah insurance is important. Kelli, there’s one more thing I do have to say. Our biggest shock in learning and creating this business is realizing that the US clients have very little bike knowledge. When we travel abroad, we always have a bike mechanic that comes with us, but we intermingle with the Australians and UK. Everyone from Australia, UK, can pack and unpack their bike. They do basic bike maintenance. All the US athletes are like, I don’t know how to make this adjustment. I don’t have–

Andrew: Yeah that’s true.

Kelli: What’s a derailleur?

Andrew: Yeah, that 100% checks out.

Krista: Exactly. So one of our biggest, I guess suggestions, is take a bike maintenance, a basic bike maintenance class…

Andrew: Yeah I love that.

Krista: …if you’re traveling international because it is guaranteed something is going to get tweaked on your bike in travel. It always does. There’s not a single bike that something doesn’t happen to. So having that basic knowledge on how to kind of tweak your own bike, and yes if it’s worse than you can handle, again we always have that bike mechanic there to help. But just having that knowledge before any international experience, yes 100%, piece of advice I give.

Andrew: That’s great.

Kelli: Just learn how to pack it and unpack it properly as well, you know, safely. Go to your local bike shop and have them pack it with you and show you the best way to do that. So you know, take good care of that.

Andrew: I’m just curious for the both of you. You’ve both been to so many wonderful places just seeing the world through triathlon, helping athletes through their experiences. Just on a personal level, I know Challenge Roth for both of you is just high up there, tops on the list in terms of race experience, but just in terms of locations you’ve been to through triathlon, through RaceQuest. What would you say is just top of the top favorite location that you’ve visited? Krista.

Krista: We’re not specifically just a triathlon company. We’re in endurance sport, so we’re talking long distance running, stage racing, long cycling. We also host tours to the Tour de France. So one of the best trips that we’ve ever put together was an all women’s running race in Iceland. We ran across the glaciers.

Andrew: Wow.

Krista: So it was a small, intimate group of women. We were in the small little cabins that you ran from cabin to cabin and we overnighted. We went to the Blue Lagoon. We just, we did everything and that was probably my very favorite experience and very favorite race that we’ve kind of coordinated and toured.

Kelli: The Laugavegur Trail as it’s known and also where we first tried their delicacy which is fermented shark chased with something…

Andrew: Wow.

Kelli: …alcoholic that tasted like gasoline. I don’t even know the name of it…

Andrew: Wow.

Kelli: …but it was one of those things that you never forget.

Andrew: How Icelandic. Yeah.

Kelli: Travel to Iceland, do that and you know, wow. Unforgettable.

Andrew: So Kelli, is that the same answer for you or do you have a different one?

Kelli: I’m going to– Well, that’s a little rustic for me. I’m thinking, I am going to go with a place that has just stolen my heart. I love going to Prague. Every year after Roth we go to Prague and I just cannot believe what an incredible– It’s so surprising. It’s so clean. It’s so safe. It’s so welcoming. It’s so hospitable and very sophisticated, artistic, cultural. Just a great city that really has the history and the modern vibe to it. I have yet to take a traveler there who didn’t say, “Wow! This is knocking my socks off. Like, I had no idea.” They are always feeling that their expectations are exceeded and I have to say that Prague would be that city for me. Of all the places we’ve been, of all the cities, all the different locals, that’s probably my top. That’s my number one favorite city is Prague. Highly recommend.

Andrew: Alright. Well, I’ve always wanted to go to Challenge Roth whether I’m racing or just there for TriDot supporting our athletes racing so maybe I’ll bring the family and maybe we’ll get to experience Prague ourselves. We will see if that is in the cards for 2024 or 2025, but for our TriDoters listening to this and lots of great information, lot of great stories. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation today. A little less swim, bike, and run, but still very much in the multisport realm and I’ve just been very excited to get this information to our people and kind of cast the vision for what you’re going to see. Now I do want to tell our athletes who are racing a North American Ironman event, TriDot Trips does not replace TriDot At the Races. I know that there are some key members of our team that are retooling what TriDot At the Races looks like in 2024 and beyond. We will still be on site at the North American Ironman Races to support you. TriDot Trips just provides more opportunities for our athletes to swim, bike, run, and travel together. Because at the end of the day, I know the two of you agree with me on this, any adventure, a triathlon adventure especially, is most fun when done with other people. So kind of our plan as a company, every year in October I think we’re planning the week after Kona World Championships we’re going to release a schedule for TriDot Trips for the following year. So right now we’re saying “Hey, go sign up for Challenge Roth. Do Challenge Roth with us in 2024.” But like I said, there are three other experiences that will be announced and that announcement will go out the week after Kona and you’ll be able to have plenty of time to wrap your head around, is a good fit for me, does it fit my schedule, and then sign up and get ready for it. So Kelli, Krista, as we wrap up our conversation today, do you have just kind of any final encouragement for our TriDotters to hop into a TriDot Trip for 2024, particularly Challenge Roth?

Kelli: Well, Challenge Roth, I mean, what can I say? It is just exceptional. I cannot recommend it enough. It is the people’s race. It’s just as great an experience for people who are maybe that’s their first international race and they’re a bit new at that as it is for the pros or for the spectators. The unique thing about that race is having seen it up close for ten years, the spectators love it just as much as the athletes.

Krista: I’m going to jump in and again I always go back to the spectators, but there are no Sherpas on this tour. We take care of the family members as though they are athletes and clients.

Andrew: Yep. Love that.

Krista: We’ll roll out the red carpet just for them. So I always– Kelli and I laughed at this. I said, “Heck if you don’t have a good time at Roth then we’ll coordinate a pickleball Bespoke Tour for you afterward.”

Kelli: You might want to change sports. You might want to do what Krista does and just do the yoga in T1. You know, you might want to join that.

Andrew: Sure. Yeah sure.

Kelli: Try something new.

Cool down theme: Great set everyone! Let’s cool down.

Vanessa Ronksley: Guess what time it is? It’s Coach Cool Down Tip Time! I’m Vanessa, your average triathlete with elite level enthusiasm. Joining me today is TriDot Coach Diego Navarro from Stillwater, Oklahoma where he lives with his fiancee Kelsey, his dog Wimsey, and Heeley the bunny. Diego is currently working as an animal nutritionist for a company that develops botanical solutions from plant extracts to improve the health of pets and livestock. How cool is that? On the triathlon side of things, Diego has been a triathlete for over 15 years and became a TriDot athlete in 2020 and a coach in 2022. He is currently working with athletes from all corners of the world in Australia, the US, and the Philippines. Diego is passionate about what some people refer to as the fourth discipline in triathlon: nutrition and race fueling. He has a robust educational background which helps him to help his athletes cross the finish line with an abundance of energy, perfectly hydrated, and with a happy gut. Now one thing that not many people know about Diego is that he has a second degree black belt it taekwondo and he used to compete for the national team in the Philippines. That is absolutely amazing. Welcome to the cool down Diego.

Diego Navarro: Hi Vanessa. Thanks for having me and it’s great to be here.

Vanessa: So, a black belt hey? Like, that is a pretty incredible achievement. I highly respect people who have received a black belt in any martial art not only because of the intense physicality that is required, but the mental fortitude needed to commit to such consistent and difficult training for a very long period of time. I imagine that the mental abilities that you gained training and competing in taekwondo have been a major part of your success as a triathlete.

Diego: Yes, absolutely. In my 12 years in the sport I learned to be disciplined, to have humility, and there is no substitute for hard work. Hard work always pays off. Period.

Vanessa: Yeah. I 100% agree and I love that humility aspect because in my very short stint with martial arts I definitely learned that very quickly and it’s a good experience to have for anyone. But I do feel like we could chat about this forever, but let’s get to the tip. So what is something that you share with your athletes that you think would benefit the people listening to our podcast today?

Diego: My tip is to practice the logistics of your fueling and hydration strategies for race day. What I mean by that is that your plan needs to be practical and feasible. So does your plan include using gels? solids? like chews or bars? rice balls? sandwiches? Or is it in liquid form? Or is it a combination of all of it? So I typically see athletes under fuel because they are limited by how much nutrition they think they can carry which is why I often recommend using a combination and determining which combinations are practical and will help hit their targets. So for example, dedicating a bottle or two for liquid carbohydrates that are typically more concentrated so you don’t run out of space for solids or gels on your bike. Don’t be afraid to use the special needs bag for longer races like a full Ironman. Bonking will add more to your finish time than the two to three minutes of stopping at the special needs station, right?

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Diego: And on the run you could use a combination of gels and liquid carbs in a small bottle or flask that you can easily top off. I use a sandwich bag or a gel flask can be used to store whatever powder or mix you use in your bottle which you could easily carry or pick up at the special needs station. In terms of sodium, if you use salt capsules you can find little tiny Ziploc bags that are about 2 x 2-½ inches that you can store them in and easily discard in the trash bin at aid stations. So you can have one or two or five capsules in there and make them a single use or multiple use bag. My personal favorite is dissolving electrolyte tabs in the gel flask with a capacity of about 100, 150 mL and sip on it as I go. I find that easier than using salt capsules, but these little baggies are so small I still make my athletes carry some as insurance.

Vanessa: Diego, I have another question for you that regards to training and carrying your fuel and I’m just curious what you recommend for carrying your nutrition on those long run sessions in particular. Because I know that there’s a lot of options out there and they can also impose a lot of difficulties if you’re carrying a lot of water, for example. It’s very heavy. How do you recommend carrying that during a training session?

Diego: That’s a very good question. Actually what I do is if I’m going to go out on a long run, say two hours or more, sometimes I will drive somewhere and where I park my car is the middle point. So I would do a loop and it could be the same for biking. I would stop at some point to refuel or replenish my gels that I’m carrying or the bottle that I have my liquid carbs in and then go the second loop or how many other loops that you need to do. You don’t have to carry them all at once. It’s the same principle as using your special needs bag.

Vanessa: I love that. I love that so much because it’s like you’re making your aid station your vehicle. That is brilliant, a wonderful, wonderful way to circumnavigate that problem of carrying all of your stuff with you from the very beginning.

Diego: It’s not always practical, right?

Vanessa: Yeah.

Diego: Sometimes you want to run from your house which is fine also, but sometimes if I run from my house and it’s not part of the “loop” I would bring all of my nutrition, lay them somewhere where I know someone will not just think, “Oh, someone left a bottle here. Someone left some free gels on the side of the road.” So kind of leave it somewhere incognito and then just come back for it later on.

Outro: Thanks for joining us. Make sure to subscribe and share the TriDot podcast with your triathlon crew. For more great tri content and community, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Ready to optimize your training? Head to tridot.com and start your free trial today! TriDot – the obvious and automatic choice for triathlon training.

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